Devon HenryTwo crown jewel wins, two NASCAR Playoff appearances, and a driver-team combo that went from the back row to the front of the pack.
Michael McDowell has been grinding for year in the world of NASCAR. After years of start and park, McDowell found a home with Bob Jenkins and Front Row Motorsports. Together, they built a team capable of finding victory lane for the first time, and did so in the biggest stock car race of them all – the Daytona 500.
After seven years, the two will now part. McDowell will move from a Ford Mustang to a Chevy Camaro in 2025 and join Spire Motorsports. Front Row will welcome in former Stewart-Haas Racing driver, Noah Gragson and another driver yet to be named alongside Todd Gilliland.
2024 was another standout year for the 39-year-old veteran. McDowell and his Front Row Motorsports No. 34 team qualified on the front row for the 2024 Daytona 500, the best starting position in his career. But after 24 events in his career where he failed to qualify for a race and 466 starts at NASCAR’s top level, he earned his first career pole the following week at Atlanta Motor Speedway in his 467th career start. The No. 34 team’s speed would continue as the Glendale native would end up with six poles in 2024, more than any other driver in the series.
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Born and raised in Glendale, McDowell grew up racing go-karts at the Phoenix Kart Racing Association track in Glendale, across the street from what is now Six Flags Hurricane Harbor. Now residing in North Carolina, McDowell gives back to the karting community as a minority owner of Trackhouse Motorplex in Mooresville, NC. McDowell reached a career milestone just before Championship Weekend at Phoenix Raceway making his 500th career Cup Series start.
In 2016, McDowell became the first Arizonan to win in one of NASCAR’s national touring series with his victory at Road America in the NASCAR Xfinity Series for Richard Childress Racing. The Glendale native also owns four career ARCA Menards Series victories to his credit. In 2004, he found victory lane on the former Phoenix Raceway road course in the Pro Star Mazda Series en route to claiming the season championship.
McDowell will end this chapter of his life in the NASCAR Cup Series finale at his home track of Phoenix Raceway on Sunday. NASCAR crowns the champion of their 76th live on NBC with coverage starting at 1:00 p.m. MST.
